News and In Focus articles

The Director-General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova, today denounced the killing of two TV journalists, Mohamed Karim al-Badrani and Mohamed Ghanem, in Mosul on 05 October.

“I condemn the murder of Mohamed Karim al-Badrani and Mohamed Ghanem,” the Director-General said. “It is essential that the authorities investigate these cases and bring their culprits to trial. Letting such crimes go unpunished severely undermines journalists’ ability to carry out their professional duties, and societies’ freedom to engage in open and informed debate.”

The two journalists were shot dead while filming a report about a market in Mosul for the independent television channel Al-Sharqiya.

UNESCO is the United Nations agency with a mandate to defend freedom of expression and press freedom. Article 1 of its Constitution requires the Organization to “further universal respect for justice, for the rule of law and for the human rights and fundamental freedoms which are affirmed for the peoples of the world, without distinction of race, sex, language or religion, by the Charter of the United Nations.” To realize this the Organization is requested to “collaborate in the work of advancing the mutual knowledge and understanding of peoples, through all means of mass communication and to that end recommend such international agreements as may be necessary to promote the free flow of ideas by word and image…”